Reuters: 28-point 'peace plan' based on Russian document

The 28-point draft "peace plan" proposed by the United States was based on a Russian document. This was reported by the agency Reuters citing three unnamed interlocutors with knowledge of the matter.

They said that the 28-point plan, released last week, was based on a document prepared by Russian authors and presented to the US presidential administration Donald Trump in October.

The interlocutors noted that the Russians shared a document outlining Moscow's conditions for ending the war with high-ranking American officials in mid-October, after Trump met with the president Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Washington, DC.

The document, which is an unofficial communication known in diplomatic terminology as a "non-paper," contained provisions previously put forward by the Russians at the negotiating table, including concessions that Ukraine had refused. These concessions included the ceding of a large part of its territory in the east.

This is the first confirmation that the document, first reported by Reuters in October, has become a key element of the 28-point "peace plan."

The US State Department and the embassies of Russia and Ukraine in Washington did not respond to a request for comment.

The White House did not comment directly on the unofficial document, but referred to Trump's comments that he was optimistic about progress in implementing the 28-point plan.

It is unclear why and how the Trump administration relied on the Russian document to formulate its own "peace plan." Some of the senior U.S. officials who reviewed it, including the U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio they believed that Moscow's demands were likely to be decisively rejected by the Ukrainians, the sources added.

The interlocutors clarified that after the document was handed over, Rubio had a telephone conversation with the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Among other things, they discussed this document.

Speaking to reporters in Geneva on Sunday, the US Secretary of State acknowledged that he had received "numerous written unofficial documents and other similar materials," without going into details.

Since Axios first reported on the peace plan last week, skepticism has grown among U.S. officials and lawmakers, many of whom view the plan as a list of Russian positions rather than a serious proposal.

• The original version of the plan proposed by the United States stated that Ukraine should give up Donbas and some weapons, as well as reduce the number of the Armed Forces up to 600,000. All 28 points of the plan are here.
• November 23 in Geneva a number of meetings were held with the participation of Ukraine, the United States, and Europe to discuss a peace plan.
• Rubio positively appreciated negotiations with the Ukrainian delegation in Switzerland, but did not provide any details on the agreements.
• On November 24, the FT wrote that the plan was cut from 28 to 19 points.